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Delta, Virgin Australia Trans-Pacific Codeshare to Launch in November

Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) and Virgin Australia group of airlines (ASX: VBA) today announced two major milestones of their recently approved joint venture: an expanded codesharing agreement on flights between the United States and Australia, and an enhanced customer experience in Los Angeles.

Codeshare service will be available for sale beginning Sept. 19, 2011, for travel effective Nov. 6, 2011. Under the agreement, Delta will add its code to all flights between Los Angeles and the Australian cities Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, operated by V Australia, Virgin Australia’s long-haul international carrier. V Australia will add its code to Delta’s service between Los Angeles and Sydney.

For customers, the expanded codesharing means more options when booking trans-Pacific travel on Delta or V Australia, as well as benefits such as accrual of frequent flier miles and premium lounge access regardless of which airline operates the flight.

To further improve the customer experience, from November, flights operated by V Australia will arrive at Delta’s Terminal 5 at Los Angeles International Airport2. This will allow for easier and faster connections within the same terminal to the rest of Delta’s network, as well as access to new customs and immigration facilities in Terminal 5.

“The start of trans-Pacific codesharing and arrival co-location at T5 in Los Angeles mark the first major steps toward establishing our joint venture, which will provide significant benefits for our customers,” said Charlie Pappas, Delta’s vice president – Alliances. “Together, Delta and Virgin Australia will offer a leading network and a superior travel experience for our customers flying between the U.S. and Australia.”

Virgin Australia Group Executive, Merren McArthur said: “Since receiving US government approval in June, Delta and Virgin Australia have moved quickly to deliver the consumer benefits that are enabled by our joint venture. The joint venture will allow us to offer more choice and a more seamless travel experience from November, providing Guests with three Trans-Pacific services per day and allowing us to spread our respective departure times out of Sydney to improve connections.

“The next milestone will be the expansion of the existing domestic codeshare on each airline's domestic network, further improving connectivity of our services and giving Virgin Australia guests access to 250 destinations across the United States, Canada and Mexico,” Ms McArthur said.

Following the U.S. Department of Transportation’s approval of antitrust immunity for Delta and Virgin Australia on trans-Pacific flights in June, the two airlines have been working closely on expanding codesharing, coordinating products and services and extending frequent flyer program benefits and lounge access to customers of both carriers. The joint venture will create a comprehensive, fully integrated network able to serve thousands of city-pairs in North America and the South Pacific, providing numerous destinations which otherwise would not be accessible to customers.

The trans-Pacific codesharing agreement is the latest expansion of the partnership between the two airlines. In May, Delta and Virgin Australia announced an enhanced codeshare that added Delta’s code to Virgin Australia flights to five destinations in Australia, and added Virgin Australia’s code on Delta service to four new cities in the United States.

About Delta Air Lines

Delta Air Lines serves more than 160 million customers each year, and was named by Fortune magazine as the most admired airline worldwide in its 2011 World's Most Admired Companies airline industry list. With an industry-leading global network, Delta and the Delta Connection carriers offer service to 339 destinations in 59 countries on six continents. Headquartered in Atlanta, Delta employs 80,000 employees worldwide and operates a mainline fleet of more than 700 aircraft. A founding member of the SkyTeam global alliance, Delta participates in the industry’s leading trans-Atlantic joint venture with Air France-KLM and Alitalia. Including its worldwide alliance partners, Delta offers customers more than 13,000 daily flights, with hubs in Amsterdam, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, Memphis, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York-JFK, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Salt Lake City and Tokyo-Narita. The airline’s service includes the SkyMiles frequent flier program, a world-class airline loyalty program; the award-winning BusinessElite service; and more than 50 Delta Sky Clubs in airports worldwide. Delta is investing more than $2 billion through 2013 in airport facilities and global products, services and technology to enhance the customer experience in the air and on the ground. Customers can check in for flights, print boarding passes, check bags and review flight status at delta.com.

About Virgin Australia group of airlines

Virgin Australia group of airlines (ASX: VBA), formerly the Virgin Blue group of airlines, was launched in 2000 and has since established a global reputation as an innovator and leader in the aviation industry; renowned for the warmth of its people and the quality of the service they provide. Today the group employs over 7,000 people and includes multi-award winning domestic airline Virgin Australia (formerly Virgin Blue); international long-haul airline V Australia, international subsidiary airline Pacific Blue; and Polynesian Blue, a joint venture airline with the Government of Samoa. Virgin Australia group of airlines is currently in the process of re-launching its domestic and short-haul international product, and both V Australia and Pacific Blue airlines will operate as Virgin Australia by the end of 2011. The group also includes multi-award winning frequent flyer and loyalty program, Velocity, and holiday arm, Blue Holidays. The group operates a fleet of 89 modern Boeing 737, 777 and Embraer E-Jet aircraft flying to 32 Australian and 16 international destinations including the USA, UAE, New Zealand, Indonesia, Thailand, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu and the Cook Islands. Virgin Australia group of airlines has alliances with Etihad Airways and Air New Zealand and has recently announced partnerships with Singapore Airlines and Skywest Airlines which will see it expand its footprint in Asia and regional Australia.